There are big changes in store for motorists on the always-busy 405 Freeway near UCLA. Those changes will last for months.

The northbound 405 Freeway Sunset Boulevard off-ramp is being torn down to make way for a safer, larger off-ramp. The northbound 405 at Sunset Boulevard shuts down Friday at 10 p.m., scheduled to reopen just after Thanksgiving.

"Ramp Jam" is expected to jam up traffic in the Westwood area. Commuters are already dreading the Sunset Boulevard closure.

The Sunset Boulevard off-ramp from the northbound 405 will be closed for four months while Caltrans does the construction work. Metro is handling the detours.

Metro recommends commuters use Wilshire Boulevard or Moraga Drive to get around the closure.

The goal of the project is to ease the northbound congestion exiting Sunset traveling. Traffic during rush hour can back up all the way to Wilshire, and sometimes as far back as Santa Monica Blvd.

The off-ramp currently has only one right-turn and left-turn lane each. The new ramp will be wider and longer.

"When we're done with the reconfigured ramp, it's going to have two right-turn lanes," said Metro Spokesman Dave Sotero. "So it's going to enable motorists to more quickly get onto Sunset to reach their destinations. The off-ramp itself will be 60-percent larger than the current off-ramp, so we'll be able to store more vehicles on the ramp rather than the freeway or Sunset Boulevard."